Deepchord Presents Echospace The Coldest Season

Echospace-Chicago's Steve Hitchell (Soultek) and Detroit's Rod Modell (Deepchord)-will be dogged (or cheered) by Basic Channel/Chain Reaction comparisons, and one really has no choice but to add to the inevitable critical consensus. The Coldest Season is pure homage to the artists on those Berlin labels who set the standard for highbrow, dub-inflected techno. Which is cool, as there can never be too much of this type of music circulating, especially for DJs who dig the original's deep, sublimely lonesome, and stoic techno. With acute attention to detail, The Coldest Season's nine tracks emulate BC/CR's stringently streamlined 4/4 rhythms and vast aquatic/stratospheric textures. "First Point of Aries" is a brilliant amalgam of spindrift, reverberant bass pulsations and muted, skipping beats that hit like love taps. Elsewhere, evocative "Ocean of Emptiness" and "Celestialis" signify the stark majesty of these supremely dedicated disciples. Chicago + Detroit x Berlin = techno Nirvana.